St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-04-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Defines
"a Live Church"
Benevolent Hearts, Earnest Work and
Good Singing Essentials-The Final
salvation of Precious Souls the
Aim and End of All.

After a three weeks Western trip Rev
l. Dewitt Talmage has returned to his
Brooklyn charge and was warmly wei
coined. In his first discourse after his re
turn home he told his congregation what
in his opinion, constituted "a Live
Church, taking for his text:
Unto the angel Of the Church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first and thu
last. which was dead and is alive.
i know thy works, and tribulatiol.. and pow
elty, but thou art rich.-Rev H., So
Smyrna was great city of the ancients,
bounded on three sides by mountains II
was the central emporium of the Levan-
tine trade. In that prosperous and
brilliant'city there was Chris tan Church
established. Afterit had existed for awhile
it was racked down by an earthquake Ii
by confiagration that swept over
the entire city. That church went
through fire and trouble and dis
aster, but kept on to great spiritual
prosperity. The fact was, that church
had the grace of God, an evcr-active prln-
ciple. Had it been otherwise, all the
grandeur of architecture and all the
pomp of surroundings would only have
been the ornament of death--the garlands
OF coffin, the plumes of d hearse.
! 1t may be profitable to consider what
are the elements Of a live Church.
remark IN the first place that one
| characteristic of such Church is punctu-
| allty in meeting its engagements All
! ecclesiastical institutions have financial
relations, and they ought to meet their
| obligations at the bank. When Church
of God is not as faithful in its promises as
| the Bank of England, it ceases to be a
| Church of God. 1t ought to De understood
! that prayers can not paint church. and
prayers can not pay the winters coal bill,
and prayers can not meet the insurance;
and that while prayers can do a thousand
things, there are THOUSAND things that
prayers can not do.
Prayer for any particular church viii |
never reach hcaven-high unless it goes
down pocket-deep. In my church at the
West there was a man Of comforta bic
means who used to pray for his pastor in
such elongated style that he became a
nuisance to the prayermeeting; asking
God, in prayer that was almost without
ceasing, that the pastor might be blessed
in his basket and in his store, while the
fact was he never paid anything. If we
pray for the advancement of the church
advancement, our prayer is only mockery
Let the church of God then meet its OBJ
legations on the outside, and let the men,
bers of the congregation meet the obliga-
tons on the inside, and the church will be
financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be
punctuality in the attendance on the
house of the Lord. If the service begins
at 1880 in the morning, the regular con-
gregation of live church will not come at
10:45; If the service is to begin at 1880 in
the evening, the regular congregation Of
live church will not come at 7:45 In some
churches | have noticed the people are al
ways tardy. There are some people who
are always late They were born too
late, and the probability is they will die
too late. The rustling of dresses up the
aisles, and the slamming of doors. and the
treading of heavy feet, is poor inspiration
for minister 1t requires great abstrac-
ton in a pastors mind to proceed with the
preliminary exercises of the church when
one-half of the audience seated are look
ing around to see the other half come in.
Such difference of attendance
upon the house of God may be a
difference Of timepieces but the live
church Of which am speaking ought to go
by railroad time, and that is pretty we'll
understood in all our communities. There
is one hvmn that ought to be sung in
great many Christian families on Sabbath
morning:
Early, my God, without delay,
haste to seek Thy place.
Another characteristic of live church
is the fact that all the people participate
in the exercises. A stranger can tell by
the way the first tune starts whether
there is any life there. A church that
does not sing is a dead church. 1t is awful
to find a cold drizzle of music coming
down from the organ loft, while all the
people beneath it sit in silence. When
tune wanders around, lonely and I'M
friended and is finally lost amid the
arches because the people do not join in
it, there is not much melody made unto |
the Lord. In Heaven they all sing, though |
some there can not sing half as well as |
Others
The Methodist Church has sung all |
around the world and gone from conquest |
to conquest, among other things because |
it is singing church; and any Christi
church organization that with enthusiasm
performs this part of its duty will go on
from triumph to triumph A church of |
God that can sing can do any thing that
ought to be done. We go forth into this
holy war with the Bible in one hand and |
hymn-book in the other. o, we who used
to sing the praises of the Lord and have
got out of the habit, take your harps down
from the willows.
Another characteristic Of live church
is fourishing Sabbath-school It is too
late in the history of the Christian
Church to argue the benefit of
Sab ho h
school is not supplement to the
church; it is its right arm. But you say
here are dead churches that have Sab
Yes, but the Sabbath
schools are dead, too. It is dead mother
lolding in her arms dead child. But
when the superintendent, and teachers,
md schnlara cnma ga that aftarnnnnS |